Its battery may outlast your work day, and the Fujitsu T2010's indoor/outdoor screen lets you get down to business almost anywhere. Eraserhead fans will like its conventional keyboard, too.

On the down side, the Fujitsu T2010 isn't very comfortable to hold, and the optical drive is external, not integrated.

In our tests the Fujitsu T2010's standard extended-life nine-cell battery set an impressive new record for longevity in our tests (almost seven hours), surpassing the average battery life of 15 currently tested ultraportables by around 2.7 hours. These tests were carried out in the PC World Test Center, in the US

Our 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo U7600 Fujitsu T2010, with 2GB of RAM and Windows Vista Business, collected a WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 52, close to the average of 54 earned by currently tested ultraportables.

The Fujitsu T2010's sensible design includes a first-rate keyboard layout. However, the T2010 comes with only two USB ports, and it carries a PC Card slot instead of a faster ExpressCard slot. Once swiveled on its single hinge and laid flat against the keyboard, the sturdy 12.1in WXGA latchless screen is fairly bright and easy to read indoors or in shade (although the antiglare coating doesn't quite stand up to direct sun).

For what you get, the US price tag of $2279 - around £1,140 - (or $2558 with an external optical drive) is reasonable. Alternatively, you can add an optical drive via a $350 docking station. UK pricing has not yet been announced.

The front-mounted battery that we liked so much in laptop mode turns into a bit of a liability in tablet mode if you're a right-hander who doesn't like having a left-side grip. You can rotate the unit 180 degrees so the grip is on the right, but then all the tablet buttons are in a nonstandard configuration on the bottom. One fix: buy the six-cell battery in addition to the nine-cell battery, so you can swap batteries for maximum comfort.

A conservative business unit, the T2010's connections are not exactly cutting-edge; for instance, it has the older PC Card slot instead of an ExpressCard slot, and only two USB ports. But the basics are all there, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless communications, plus a little extra data security in the form of an integrated Smart Card slot.

A tidy little 1.9kg unit, the tablet version of Lenovo's ThinkPad X61, the Lenovo ThinkPad X61t ultraportable lacks an integrated optical drive, but it has a great design, long battery life, and an easy-on, easy-off docking station.

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